The young man grabbed a 200-pound sheep under the chin with one hand and with the other hand on the ewe’s haunches, rolled her into a sitting position. Then, the shearer bent over the animal, removing the fleece with long, smooth strokes of the shears.
I couldn’t help but think, That must be a nasty job. I have shorn sheep myself, but I tried to allot plenty of time for shearing and two days for recovery. This man was doing one every couple of minutes!

He was a big strapping boy from Wyoming, who I later learned was attending a nearby college. He had been shearing for several years and obviously knew his business. Still, I think we all understand what a smelly and thankless task shearing sheep must be.

It’s not like being a people-barber, where folks sit in the chair and say “thanks” on their way out. When you shear sheep, you have to drag them in, throw them down and then they “bah” in your face and wet on your boot on the way out. It’s a nasty job.

The only reason I can see for anyone to take up the shearing profession is the promise of hard cash. And if you want to make money, you have to be good at it.

So it seemed obvious to me that a strong, intelligent young man such as this was shearing sheep to help pay college expenses. He was probably studying to be a veterinarian, or possibly a pharmacist. So I asked him what he was majoring in, and he said he was studying to be a farrier.

Now, I think you understand what we are up against here. This is a big, intelligent young man who is attending community college to prepare himself for a profession so he can quit shearing sheep. And he is studying to be a horse-shoer!

I would just like to ask: If you have never shorn sheep, have you ever shod horses? If you think sheep are a thankless lot, just consider the satisfaction one can receive from holding up a horse.
That’s what a farrier does, you know – he stands under a horse with one hoof on his knee, and the horse leans on him in order to rest the other three legs. When the horse gets tired of leaning, he jumps around a little to see if the farrier has good footing.

All this time, the owner stands by and talks. No matter how fast the shoer pounds, he can still hear the owner talking.

When the farrier has nailed shoes on all four hooves, the horse simply snickers and walks off as bowlegged as he ever was. Then the owner blames the farrier for not using  some special shoes that would make the old nag walk straight.

At least when you shear sheep, you don’t get flak from the owner. All the sheep man wants is the wool off those sheep, and he doesn’t care how you get it.

So I think we can see the situation I’m describing here as a glaring example of the major problem with higher education in this country. Here we have a young man who is shearing sheep to make enough money to go to college – and become a horse-shoer.

Certainly it’s time for concerned parents to ask, “When will our colleges find a way to teach these kids some common sense?”

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.